Social Networking websites are very popular. Websites such as LinkedIn®, Twitter®, and Facebook® have obtained hundreds of millions of users. As of March 2009, according to Nielsen Online, social networks or blogs account for nearly 10% of all Internet time, and the “Member Communities” category of sites surpassed the email category in Internet popularity, measured by time on site.
Social Media websites have permeated the Internet. It has been said that LinkedIn® is where you work and have worked, Twitter® is what you are currently doing, and Facebook® is who you are. For example, in a Social Media website such as Facebook®, the “Wall” is located on the Profile tab. If someone has communicated with you, it will be located on the wall. When you click on a friend's name, you are first presented with their wall on their Profile page. To write on someone else's wall, go to their page, and write something in the box at the top of the page that says “Write Something”. To respond to something written on your wall, click the “Comment” link under their comment and it will be inserted (chronologically) under the entry. Conversations occur this way in the site. Users are able to view conversations (or multiple entries by many different people) by the comments left under the entry left on the wall.
Twitter® is used by millions of people. As of April 2009, this site has grown more than 700%, to more than 10 million users, and growing. Twitter is “a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” . . . . With messaging systems (like Twitter®), things happen in a different manner. Users send short (140 characters max) messages via a computer or mobile device that are posted to the site. Users “follow” other users and receive their messages. So, any message posted to the site is automatically seen by those users that are following the user that sent the message.
LinkedIn® is the world's largest professional network with over 55 million members and growing rapidly. LinkedIn® connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals. LinkedIn® is where a user can get connected to other users, building a trusted network of contacts. A user is able to send private messages that are posted inside the system privately.
Currently, there may be systems for random voice communications through a social network to allow voice connections between users of a social network. The users are granted access to the social network via a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone. Such a system may include a communications management system (CMS) configured to manage voice communications through a social network and a connection coordinator configured to connect randomly a first user to a second user in response to a user request.
For example, to establish voice connections between users of a social network, the user is granted access to a social network through a VoIP phone. The user then navigates through the social network based on user input and may directly connect to a second user randomly for voice communications based on an authorization. However, the user may only interact using a VoIP phone.
The CMS and the communications network may implement the social network. Connection rooms are a call bridge enabling any number of users to communicate simultaneously. Users within the connection room may be automatically linked to the connection room based on user profiles, preferences, histories, or other data. A device such as a laptop, VoIP phone, or mobile device can connect to parties outside through the CMS without utilizing the social network implemented in the CMS. Below are some examples.
Party Line™, for example, is a Facebook® application that lets you voice chat with your Facebook® friends. When you add Party Line™ to your Facebook® account, you can create group chats with up to 5 people at one time, or set up a chat with your friends so everyone can get on Party Line™ at the same time and chat together.
However, Party Line™ utilizes the phone numbers stored in Facebook® as the called number when establishing the Party Line™ connections. The Party Line™ application interfaces with Facebook® to originate the conference call (i.e., establish the original call to the conference port), and to obtain the numbers of the parties on the call if they are Facebook® friends.
Vivox Web Voice™, for example, is an application for Facebook® that combines the Vivox™ Network with the social environment of Facebook® to connect friends. Users can have virtual reunions, play games or conduct meetings. Vivox Web Voice™ is designed to provide a simple way to get a group talking.
The Vivox™ application allows communication through the computer's browser on the Facebook® page. For example, there is a button to turn the user's microphone on and off to allow speaking. The connected user can be heard through the user's computer speakers. The Vivox™ application allows for real-time communication utilizing the Facebook® application to initiate the conference parameters and contacts. It should be noted, however, that the Vivox™ application would not allow the user to make a recording and post the recording on a user's wall.
With Phonevite™, for example, a user can send voice messages to their friends via the phone, share recordings via Twitter® (), Facebook® () MySpace® (), and email or just embed the audio directly to their website. Once the user has made a voice recording (either via a recording browser app or via phone), the recording will appear in their recording inbox. However, the user can only see five small icons at the bottom for each of the key social services. Twitter® will create the ready-to-share tweet once you post a recording to Twitter®.
With TwitterFone™, for example, messages can be sent to Twitter® via the phone. However, TwitterFone™ utilizes voice-to-text algorithms to convert the data.
With TweetCall™, for example, the user can call an 800 number and speak the tweet into the phone. The voice, however, is transcribed and posted to Twitter® as text.